NEW GOALS
Department __Sociology
Course Number __201
AREAS OF INQUIRY
Course Name: Globalization and Society
GLOBAL AND MULTICULTURAL
PERSPECTIVES
This form must be submitted to the Faculty Council on Liberal Learning and Academic Life as part of the submission
process.
Please attach a proposed syllabus for this course and the Undergraduate Curriculum Course Proposal Form.
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: 17 December 2004
Please answer the following questions:
Check Only One:
X This course is an existing course (in the current curriculum) that we are now proposing for this Area of
Inquiry.
This is a revision of the current Sociology 201 to meet the criteria for the Area of Inquiry. It replaces
Sociology 201.
1. Name and contact information for the department chair administrating this course.
Joe Healey, 4-7114.
2. In any given semester, how many sections of this course is your department willing to offer?
Three to Five
3. Why is this course being offered/what is it designed to achieve (Course purpose/goal)?
This course is a revision of the current Soc. 201 and is designed to meet the requirements listed under the
goal: Global and Multicultural Perspectives. The course will focus on the process of globalization as it affects
the United States and other societies throughout the world. Globalization – the increasing interconnectedness
of the world’s peoples – has powerful economic, political, social, and cultural implications for the US and for
all societies. The US is one of the primary architects of the present world system of societies and has been one
of the primary beneficiaries of globalization. How did the US rise to this position of prominence? How does it
benefit from globalization economically, politically, and culturally? What other nations, regions, and entities
(e.g., trans-national corporations and their executives, political and religious movements, individuals such as
Bill Gates) have benefited? How? What nations, regions, and other entities have been victimized and
marginalized by the process? What forms of oppression, inequality, resentment, and resistance have
developed as a consequence of globalization?
This course will deal with these and many other issues, guided by the propositions that globalization has
affected different peoples, cultures, and societies in different ways and that inequalities of class, gender, race,
and ethnicity are deeply embedded in the process. The course will examine the development of human
societies from hunting and gathering to the post-industrial era, stressing the processes that led to the present
world system of societies, the increasing pace of globalization, and the complex interactions between culture,
polity, and the market.
Major theoretical perspectives will include modernization theory (which generally guides the U.S., the World
Bank and IMF, trans-national corporations and, to some degree, the U.N.) and world-systems and dependency
theories (which are highly critical of modernization theory) and the course will focus on the tensions between
these disparate views. The course will devote a considerable amount of time to the views of non-Western
social scientists and theorists, who are generally highly critical of US culture, capitalism/industrialization, and
Western hegemony, and will include case studies of several non-Western developing and less developed
societies, as well as sub-national cultural and political movements.
Check the objectives below that the course will address. The first objective is required and every proposal must
include at least two more objectives from the list below.
X Examine the interactions and interrelationships among cultures, especially the relationship of
marginalized to mainstream cultures (Required)
X Assess how culture impacts and informs the development of creative expression/movements, politics,
economics, or philosophy
X Articulate how culture influences the structure of languages, societies, and institutions
4. Briefly explain how this class addresses the above objectives. A course may cover more than three
objectives.
a.) The course focuses on societal development and the rise of the present, highly interconnected world
system of societies, in which Western Capitalism is the dominant (“mainstream”) culture as well as the
dominant political and economic system. The course will examine the rise of Western capitalism, the
hegemony of Western culture, and critical reactions from less developed and non-Western societies. The
dominant theoretical tension in the course will be between Modernization theory (which guides the U.S. and
many powerful institutions such as the World Bank) and Dependency or World Systems theory (which is
highly critical of Modernization theory). The course will use data from the World Bank, the U.N., and other
trans-national resources and will include case studies of developing (“marginalized”) nations in Latin
America, the Middle East, Africa, and / or Asia and cultural, political, or religious movements that are critical
of Western thought (e.g., Islamic Fundamentalism).
b.) This course addresses the intersection of culture, polity and market as the major social forces in the
development of societies and in the process of globalization. Some issues include: What are the connections
between the rise of Western culture, political democratization, industrialization, and globalization? How do
these forces threaten non-Western cultures, economies, and nations? How have non-Western and indigenous
peoples reacted to the rise of the West? How has western culture been expressed on the global stage? How
have non-Westerners attempted to preserve their traditions, express their heritage and perspective?
c) This course directly addresses the relationship between culture and the survival of indigenous languages
and societal institutions such as the family, religion, polity, economy, leisure, healthcare, etc. in the face
of globalization and the rise of the West.
5. Course Assessment: Identify how this course will accomplish the above objectives (choose at least one):
X Participating in class discussion and debate
X Engaging in teamwork and other collaborative exercises
X Writing analytical or evaluative papers, perhaps incorporating original research
X Making oral presentations
6. Attach a proposed syllabus, which includes a statement of purpose, course objectives, and how these
objectives will be accomplished.
See attached syllabus
8. Please identify and explain if this course contributes to the Foundations of Liberal Learning expectations for:
X Oral Communication Literacy:
Students will make an oral presentation to the class on a global social problem.
X Information Literacy:
Students will access and interpret data from a number of resources, including the U.N., World
Bank, Country Studies, etc.
X Writing Literacy:
Student will write a brief paper with a cross-cultural perspective analyzing a major social
problem.
9. Explain how this course connects to Vision 2010 – the CNU Strategic Plan.
This course provides a broad macro sociological perspective on significant cultural, political and
economic forces influencing life in the 21st. century. The course will challenge students to come to a
broader and more nuanced view of the world and, by exposing them to non-Western sociological theorists
and thinkers, will help them develop a critical and thoughtful view of world affairs.
Submission Checklist:
By the deadline, submit a packet with the following documents to the Assistant Dean for Liberal Learning. Please
submit in electronic and hard copy form.
__X__ Area of Inquiry Course Proposal Form
___X__ Syllabus for the Course
___X__ Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Course Proposal Form
Syllabus
Sociology 200, Globalization and Society
Course Description:
This course addresses the processes of globalization in the 21st. century and its implications for the US
and for the world system of societies. The course covers the development of human society from
hunting and gathering to post-industrial with a specific focus on the processes that led to the rise of
Western cultural, political, and economic systems and the spread of Western and US dominance across
the globe. The course will devote considerable attention to the inequalities and tensions created by this
form of globalization, to the critiques developed by non-Western thinkers, and to the experiences of
specific developing and undeveloped nations through case studies. The course is provides a macrosociological perspective on the intersections between culture, polity and market in the present global
system of societies
Course Objectives:
Students will develop an in-depth understanding of the social forces influencing cultural and social
changes in the development of society and in the process of globalization
Students will develop analytical skills for addressing problems associated with societal development and
globalization
Students will develop a comparative macro-sociological perspective for assessing the diversity and unity
of cultures in post-industrial, global societies.
Students will become familiar with the critiques of Western culture, and Western economic and political
systems
Tentative Texts:
The texts for this course will include a series of 3 to 4 monographs on the development and structure of
society and the impact of globalization on culture, polity and market.
Some sample titles are:
Anheier, Kaldor and Glasius 2004
Global Civil Society 2004/2005
SAGE Publication
Bradshaw and Wallace
2005
Global Inequalities
Pine Forge
George and Page
2005
Global Social Problems
Polity Press
Held, McGrew, et al
1999
Global Transformation: Politics, Economics and Culture
Polity Press
Held and McGrew
1999
Global Transformation Reader: An Introduction to the
Globalization Debate
Polity Press
Keane and Shapiro
2003
Global Civil Society?
Cambridge University Press
Pieterse
2003
Globalization and Culture
Rowman and Littlefield
Robbins
2001
Schneider and Silverman
1999
Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism
Allyn and Bacon
Global Sociology: Introducing Five Contemporary Societies
Tentative Outline
Introduction
Society and Culture
Social Structures and Institutions
Cultural Identity and Diversity
Cross-Cultural, Trans-National and Comparative Methods
Data Analyses
Development of Society
Hunting and Gathering
Foraging, Hoe Agricultural
Agrarian
Industrial
Post-industrial
Theoretical Perspectives on societal development
Modernization
World-System
Dependency
Processes of Globalization
The intersection among culture, polity and market
Cultural Diffusion and Hegemony
The Process of Democratization
The Development of a Global Economy
Human Rights in a Global Society
Global Inequalities
Social Stratification within and between societies
Development of Trans-national Classes
Global and Indigenous Cultures
The Disappearance or Restructuring of traditional cultural groups
Global Social Problems, Social Movements and Political-Economic Change
World Poverty
Conflict and War and Terrorism
Religious Diversity and Conflict
Women Issues
Environmental Issues
Conclusion and Review
Convergence and Divergence in Post-Industrial, Globalized Societies
A Look to the Future.
Course Requirements
Three tests
Final Exam
Group Position Paper on a global social problem (must include empirical data)
Presentation of paper to class
Attendance and Participation are required
UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
Change to aN existing course Form
Check as appropriate- Changing Credit hours on a course
 Changing Triplets on a course
X Course Title change
 Course Number Change
 Changing pre- or co-requisites on a course
 Changing a Course Equivalent
 Deleting a course from the UG Catalog
Note: Minor Course Description changes (grammatical edits or minor rewording of the course description) are done as annual edits to the UG
Catalog.
Reason for change: To bring course into line with requirements for new curriculum
Existing Course listed as:
SUBJ SOCL Course #: 201 Title: Human Society: Introduction to Macrosociology
Credit(s) 3 Triplet (hours listed as credit-lecture-lab/practicum/studio) 3-3-0
Prerequisite or Corequisite: ENGL 102 or 123
Course Equivalent (Course formerly taught as):_______________________________________________________
Other: _______________________________________________________________________________________
Change as listed below:
SUBJ SOCL Course #: 201 Title: Globalization and Society
Credit(s): 3 Triplet (hours listed as credit-lecture-lab/practicum/studio) 3-3-0
Prerequisite: or Corequisite: ENGL 123
Course Equivalent (Course formerly taught as):_______________________________________________________
Other: _______________________________________________________________________________________
APPROVALS:
Department Chair: ___________________________________________________ Date: ____________
CLAS Chairs or
Sch of Busn Curriculum Committee: ______________________________________Date: ____________
Dean’s Signature: _____________________________________________________ Date: ___________
UCC Processed and Provost notified date: _________________________
(no formal UCC approval needed)